It is finally here and it appears as though the weather is going to cooperate for all the trick or treaters across the Stateline. Cloud cover will be on the decrease late this afternoon as a cold front continues to head towards the Ohio Valley region. Temperatures won’t be too bad for the early candy seekers, but we will cool into the 40s shortly after sunset which is at 5:52pm tonight. You might want to leave the streets by 8pm because a) it will be getting pretty chilly and b) that is when the ghouls start to emerge!

Speaking of predictions, I will go out on a sturdy limb and predict many stomach aches tonight for those that overload on the sweet stuff… -ADAM

We’ve had 130,000 page views on the 13News Weather Blog within the past year making it the Rockford area’s most visited blog! We’ve had visitors from every continent except Antarctica (we’re hoping to get some internet hits from there in the not-so-distant future).

So let me say “Thank you very much for stopping by!” and please tell your friends about it. We’re committed to blogging the most relevant weather information you need and want.

Please don’t forget that Adam, Gretchen, and I get a lot of our ideas from your comments and questions. Keep them coming no matter where you live! It’s our way of making sure we’re giving you what you want here on the blog.

The best thing about it? You’ll never know what you’re going to see next.

The normal high temperature for Halloween is 54°.The warmest Halloween was in 1950 when it was 84°.The coldest high temperature on Halloween is 32 degrees which occurred in 1917.Last year, the high temperature was 51 degrees.

The normal low for Halloween is 35°.The coldest Halloween occurred in 1925 when the temperature dipped to 14°.The highest low temperature for Halloween was 62 degrees in 1974.Last year, the low temperature was 30°.

Most Halloweens in Rockford are dry!Only 3 times has over one inch of rain fallen on Halloween.

Toads are not just a key ingredient in witches’ brew, they are important environmental indicators. All amphibians are susceptible to environmental toxins because of their sensitive skin. They are usually the first species to die out in polluted areas. If you have healthy toad populations in your area, it’s a good sign that your neighborhood is fairly unpolluted. And no, you cannot catch warts from touching a toad.

Toads are voracious pest predators in the warm months, but go into underground hibernation by late fall and won’t emerge until spring.

Spiders, with their eight legs and multiple eyes, are creatures right out of nightmares—and their sticky webs and venomous fangs don’t help their public image either. But even though they might look scary, spiders are actually extremely beneficial predators of all sorts of insect pests. And only three species have venom considered strong enough to hurt people: the black widow, the brown recluse and the hobo.

In the fall, female spiders are guarding egg sacks which hold the next generation of spiders.

The howl of the wolf can cause either heart-rending terror or spiritual inspiration. People have either vilified or glorified wolves throughout history, but the real life wild canines are neither hounds of hell or spiritual guides. In reality, gray wolves are top predators that play a key role in balancing the ecosystem. They control deer and other prey populations as well as other predators lower down on food chain, like coyotes and raccoons.

Once found throughout North America, the only remaining gray wolf populations live in the northern United States and Canada. At this time of year, they are in the process of growing their thick winter coats to guard against winter’s bitter temperatures.

The slithering, legless body. The forked tongue. The lidless eyes. Everything about a snake is decidedly non-human. But even though they strike fear in many people, most snake species are completely harmless. In fact, snakes are enormously beneficial, helping to control insect and rodent pests. The only time a snake will try to bite is if it’s cornered or startled. The natural reaction of all snakes to people is to get away or hide.

By late October, most snakes are moving to their underground hibernation grounds, where they will doze away the cold months waiting for the warmer days of spring.

Even though hurricane season doesn’t officially end until the end of November, tropical storms and hurricanes have been known to form right up to the end. As we watch Noel churn off of Florida’s southeast coast the threat of Noel gaining hurricane status is slim to none…and climatology has a lot to do with it.

The peak of hurricane season is early September when winds in all levels of the atmosphere are at their slowest in the Northern Hemisphere. This allows the storms to form and move west…then curving north around Bermuda High Pressure. This time of year it’s different. Mid-latitude winds are increasing…providing the storm with shear. (Think of it as a hair cut with a little off the top.) It’s harder for storms to get this far north, especially when you can get cold fronts down south into Florida. With Noel, we expect the circulation to get caught up in an old cold front, eventually getting a big push which will bring Noel back into the Atlantic where it’ll die out.

Over the next seven days 3 separate cold fronts are set to cross the Stateline. One would think we would be in for a couple of soaking rains, but instead we will be staying mostly dry over the next seven days. These cold fronts will be moving rapidly across the United States. This rapid movement won’t allow the wind directions to change much. Overall, we will be stuck in a northwesterly flow. With no major moisture source to the northwest, many area rain gauges will be collecting cobwebs. Unless we get a kick of moisture rich air from the Gulf of Mexico on southerly winds, these cold fronts will do nothing more than knock our temperatures back temporarily. To wrap up the timing issue, the three fronts will move through Wednesday, Friday night, and Monday respectively. -ADAM

Okay, it’s been a while since we had fun with the “Bench Cam.” (If you want to see how it works, click on the video on the right hand side of this page.)

Here’s what I want you to do: Get your kids out of the house in their Halloween costumes and stop by for the 6 o’clock newscasts TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY. (You might want to have a cell phone so you can talk to someone at home watching so you’ll know when you’re on. Our main weather segment is usually around 6:10pm.) Please no offensive costumes…if there’s anything questionable you won’t get on and that would ruin it for everyone else.

The Bench is on the north side of State Street on the northwest corner of Water Street. Our camera is located on top of the Rockford Register Star tower. Also, post a comment if you’re going and we’ll know who to look for. We could have a lot of fun with this!

Here’s a look at your official 13News Halloween Forecast. Don’t forget to check out our local trick or treat times on the right side of the page.

Here’s the latest advisory on Tropical Storm Noel. The storm’s not terribly organized, but squally weather is expected to continue for one more day in the Domincan Republic and Haiti before this storm heads up into the Bahamas.

This storm will drift northwest and interact with a cold front over Florida and be lifted northeast away from land.

The next frontal boundary set to cross the Stateline should be moving through around lunchtime on Halloween. Typically when a cold front moves through, rain can be expected. This might not be the case on Wednesday. The reasoning is that the Gulf of Mexico moisture will be locked up and this storm system won’t have any fuel (moisture) to work with. A few spots in Wisconsin might see some light showers, but for the most part this change in air masses will occur with very few fireworks. We may see a slight increase in cloud cover, but at worst I would still call it partly sunny. On the other hand, I will still go out on a sturdy limb and predict a high probability of ghosts and goblins during the evening hours Wednesday night! -ADAM

It’s not…but imagine if we had cloud patterns like this! The New Horizons spacecraft took some stunning images of Jupiter earlier this year while on the way out to Pluto. For an in-depth explanation of the clouds, click here. And as always you can click on the image to enlarge.